Romania Notes and Farmin' in Poland

Hey everyone!  We are sorry that we haven't updated our blog in 20 days!  We have a lot to share, though! Hope you are able to view the video above and enjoy what we want to share with you.  If for some reason it does not work, here is the link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWqwy53h2NM

We are now officially "banished" from Romania!  At least for another three months, which really isn't that bad, because now we are able put Ukraine on our schedule.  But, we are not yet in Ukraine, because we are back in Poland to work at a small family farm under the WWOOF (Wide World Opportunities on Organic Farming) program.  It's a program where family farms invite travelers, and we work in exchange for room/board.  The purpose is to teach us about how to farm and live off the land, and we would be able to help the hosts with their daily chores.  It's a really neat program, and we really like it.  We will only be here for three weeks, though, and we will be moving on to Ukraine, which is something that we are very excited about, because of the cool group of missionaries there and the opportunities to visit deaf children and orphans there.

Let us wrap up Romania first!  Basically, every day and moment in Romania was new, everything was a new experience.  And it was a great one.  The problem with deaf orphans is not as big or as bad as we originally imagined, and it is a very good thing.  That does not mean that they don't need any help - they do need a lot of it, just in a different way.

Many orphans that we've met don't have an idea of "mom and dad".  They have friends, they have interaction in deaf schools, they do have clothes and an education, but they do not have that deep sense of family that most of us had growing up.  Their futures are bleak - we honestly don't know how or what will happen to them, and we want to help in some way.  It does not necessarily mean that we have to live in Romania permanently - but there should be something set up, some kind of a program.  There are MANY intelligent and talented deaf adults in this country - it is just a matter of "connecting the dots" and using the power of our good, merciful God to work miracles in their lives.

The most pressing need of abandoned Romania deaf children would be the summertime - this is the worst time for them.  If we are able to work together to start a long summer camp, have missionaries like you come and fly to work with them, give them a great time, education, talk about Jesus, donate clothes - it will make a big difference.

Now - the hard part is all the government stuff!  It's not that easy to just take children out of their respective foster houses and place them in one camp.  It takes a lot of process, trust, and good relationships.  That is what we are trying to work on.  We have many e-mails from people asking us on how they can help the orphans - and we wish we could give a "one size fits all" answer, but it is something that is really complicated, but very possible if we all keep on wanting to do it and building relationships with Romanian churches/organizations.

A even better vision for the future would be to have a big foster house where all of the deaf children can be together when school is closed, so that way the children will have "brothers and sisters" instead of being sent to their foster houses.  A camp is a great idea, but if they are able to have a permanent home, it'll be even better.  Now, how does that happen?  That's something that we will all have to work on, churches/organizations/individuals, from prayers to financial donations to actual workers.

Ukraine is a big new country for us, but we know that after a few weeks, we will get a handle on it and be able to see how things are different there.  One BIG BIG BIG, cool thing about Ukraine - they allow international adoptions, so we will try our best to see how we can help deaf children there be adopted.  Romania DOES NOT allow international adoptions, so it's difficult and a "solution" must be done in-country and through only Romanians.  We are contacting a few different adoption agencies that work in Ukraine and we are trying to advocate for the needs of Ukrainian deaf orphans.

We are like ants in a big country - but one step at a time, one person at a time, one church at a time, and one organization at a time, and dots will get connected and things will happen with God's power!

We are now at the farm, and we are loving every minute of it.  It is hard work, it is dirty work, it is wet often and cold, but it's really special!  It is something that we have always wanted to do but never have been able to because we grew up in the suburbs and never really worked at a farm.  We really do think that the concept of living in a farm with a number of orphans will be a beautiful situation - the children will be able to build confidence, have interaction with animals, learn life-long skills, and be able to support themselves as adults in the future.  Animals/plants don't ridicule you or abandon you - they are dependable and come from our Creator!  :)

That's all we wanted to share for now!  We always think of you all in the U.S. and Canada!  God bless!  :)

- Alex n Alexa

Cluj Napoca, Romania

Hello everyone!

When we were in Timisoara, we thought that it would be a smooth process to get a visa.  Because it is our first time as missionaries for more than five weeks, we had no experience with this concept.  We found out that especially in Romania, getting a visa is a LONG process where you have to visit many different offices and fill out many different forms.  You also will have to secure a sponsorship from an organization based in Romania, and this kind of agreement is something that must be done way in advance.  Oh well - we have learned from this experience, and it's not something that hampers our mission effort, because we wanted to visit THREE countries and document the orphan situation in those three countries, so this will make us go up to Ukraine/Moldova.  We expect and plan to go up to Ukraine by the end of this month.  We are now in touch with a few different organizations that work with deaf orphans and asking if we can work for a few weeks in each one of those orphanages.

We recently was in Cluj Napoca, an awesome city with really great deaf people.  We enjoyed the time there, and we met three older deaf orphans, and their story touched us.

Here are the pictures! :)

Train between Timisoara and Cluj.  Took us around 7 hours.  

Classroom at a deaf vocational school.  The deaf church group is able to minister to the students every Wednesday afternoon - something that is very uncommon in Romania.  

Signing songs.  It's a big part of deaf churches in Romania, we've noticed.  They emphasize it here more than they do in the States.  

Our guide, Sardon, with Alex telling the audience a bit about ourselves.

The three deaf orphans we met.  Basically - they enjoy the deaf school during the year, but their worst times are during the summertime and Christmas.  Why is this?  Because they can't stay at the deaf schools, and they would be sent to a children's home (orphanage).  Those three girls are split up - they are the only deaf in a big building with many other teenagers.  They are subject to abuse, loneliness, and have no interaction with other deaf people.  Being deaf ourselves, we know that this is one of the worst things that one can do to a deaf person - force him or her into a place where s/he is utterly lonely.  We will keep this in mind for our future plans to help orphans... We believe that a summer camp program will benefit the deaf orphans of Romania greatly, because that is where they are the most lonely - the summertime.  

The entire class.  Only three out of this group are orphans.  All the other students have parents and families.  

Sardon taking us on a walking tour of Cluj.  Sardon was so easy to understand because of his strong expressions and big signs.  He's a great personality.

The center - Cluj.  

In front of a statue honoring a Hungarian king.  The Transylvania part of Romania was occupied by Hungarians up till 1918, so there are a lot of Hungarians in Romania, especially in the Transylvanian region.  

Alex and Sardon.  Hot day!

Typical European street - full of people drinking coffee/wine/beer/smoking cigarettes on the sidewalks.  

Found our third Romulus and Remus statue!  

The "Romanian" square.  

Good shot, Sardon!

We climbed a big hill and was able to get a great view of Cluj.

Sardon took us to his apartment and we had pizza!  Pizza is so cheap.  Both boxes here for only around 11 bucks.

Sardon and his wife.  Both of them are deaf!  They have three deaf kids.

Two of Sardon's kids are pictured, and the woman on the right is a friend who came for a visit.

Deaf club

Deaf club.  Old building, but it still stands!  

Cluj Deaf people!  What was unique about this setting is that a lot of young and old people interacted.  We don't really see much of that in the U.S.

We went hiking with the deaf group from the deaf school.  Fun!  One of the associate ministers of the deaf church took the children for a hike, and we naturally wanted to join.  

Lazios, the deaf man, is on the right.  He's the one who took us on this hike.  He's a very strong Christian.

Abandoned train.  Homeless people will sleep in them during the nights.

We see a lot of this in rural Romania.  Burning hay to clear them out.  

Right left Right left Right left

Playing around with huge cut stones, probably for a building project of some kind.

If you see a dog inside of a fence or a yard in Romania, it's guaranteed that they will bark voraciously at you.  Even the little puppy on the left didn't approve that we were passing by their home.  

We found an abandoned hotel.  Great news for Alexa!

Broken glass everywhere on the floor.  

Dare ye enter?  It's in the heart of Transylvania!

Outside of the abandoned hotel.  

And we merrily went on our way towards beautiful pastures.  There were sheep in the far background.  The two white dogs you see are guard dogs, barking at us and then they happily scampered back to their farmhouse.

We saw a lot of frog eggs.  A lot of them.

Alexa is taller than Alex.  

If you look at the upper left corner, you'll see the really adventurous boys who dared to go all the way up a hill.

Lazios chilling out amongst the rocks.  You would think he was one of the children with the pace of his walk. 

Another dog, a Doberman, letting us know we weren't allowed inside of his lair.

The roosters didn't seem to mind us.  

Neither did the three cats on the tin roof.

One of the boys found a salamander.  

That's all for now!  We went to the deaf church on Sunday but we weren't able to get pictures because we left our camera in the room!  Ahh.  But it was a great worship, and many of the kids you see above went to church.  Cluj is an awesome city, and a great place for anyone who want to go on a mission trip to Romania, because of the overall experience and the high number of deaf Christians here.  

We will now try to wrap up our last few weeks in Romania.  We will keep you all posted through this blog, of course.  Take care and God bless!